Heartbreak

Oof. This one hurts.

A day has passed since Team Canada fell to Team USA in the gold medal game, 2-1, and I still needed a moment to collect my thoughts on the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics.

First things first… What a tournament. That was a blast to watch. Congratulations to Team USA on their first gold medal since 1980. They earned it.

As a Leafs fan, I suppose I'm well-acquainted with this particular brand of shame and disappointment.

But so many questions are still rattling around in my head. Would it have been different if Sidney Crosby had played? Why are we deciding gold medals with 3-on-3 overtime? Why did Connor McDavid go hero mode 1-on-3 not once, but twice? And who else could have been on this roster to make the difference?

Tom Wilson absolutely rocked Dylan Larkin... That hit might go down as the hardest in Olympic history. Unbelievable.

And that paddle save on Devon Toews? Disgusting. One of the greatest saves in Olympic history. Connor Hellebuyck was a monster between the pipes all night. Hell of a game from him.

And Nathan MacKinnon with that open net... pure nightmare fuel. I don't want to talk about it.

It could have gone either way, so many times. Both teams had their chances but couldn't convert when it mattered most. Jordan Binnington did his best and made some unbelievable saves of his own... He kept Canada in it.

Macklin Celebrini was a pure joy to watch. The kid has a howitzer of a shot.

We had our opportunities. We just couldn't seal the deal. So off to overtime we went, against our greatest hockey rival, yet again.

3-on-3 comes down to whoever gets the first odd-man rush. It's essentially a line change contest, and I hate it. We were so dominant at 5-on-5… It felt wrong to settle things that way.

In the end, Team Canada gave us a masterclass in how not to play 3-on-3. A series of miscalculations, and just like that, the gold was gone.

Losing hurts. I guess we're not used to it.

But we move on. The future is bright for Team Canada. The talent is there, the hunger is there, and that gives me a lot of hope for the next tournament.